Memphis Fleecing Even Worse Than Originally Thought?

It's an astounding possibility to even consider, but yes, perhaps Memphis managed to get even less than expected from the Lakers when the Grizz traded Pau Gasol at the beginning of 2008.

From a Lakers.com interview with General Manager Mitch Kupchak:

Of course we traded Marc Gasol when we got Pau, his brother, and I think Marc is going to be a good player. European players are different, so he's going to have to prove it this year, but I think he has a chance to play in this league for years to come. Memphis also wanted Sun in the trade, but we wanted to keep at least one of those 2 guys so Memphis wanted Marc and we are happy that we were able to keep Sun Yue, because we liked him when we drafted him. Ronnie Lester went to Singapore in January to watch him play and indicated that he would continue to be considered a prospect, as he played well.

So the Grizz couldn't even squeeze another decent prospect out of the Lakers.  Wonderful work, Chris Wallace.

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The Grizz have to feel grand about that one.  They did the equivalent of handing the Lakers a trip to the Finals, and in exchange managed to obtain just Javaris Crittenton, Marc Gasol, Kwame Brown, Aaron McKie's salary and some late future first-rounders - and they couldn't get one more prospect that they really wanted out of that. 

The Lakers wouldn't have bitten at this deal if Memphis didn't hold out a little longer?  The trade was made the first day of February, meaning that the deadline was still three weeks away. Memphis couldn't have gotten any better offer or at least milked Sun Yue out of the Lakers?  Really?  The dumbfounding nature of this move strikes anew.